Russians return bodies of 5 out of 6 Ukrainian POWs executed at Zenit position in Avdiivka – media

Russia has returned the bodies of five out of six Ukrainian soldiers executed in February 2024 at the Zenit defence position in the city of Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast. Source: Slidstvo.Info media outlet Details: Russian forces executed six soldiers of Ukraine's 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Marko Bezruchko, at the Zenit defence position in February 2024.

Russian forces released a video showing the bodies of five deceased Ukrainian soldiers at the Zenit stronghold on 16 February 2024.

The bodies were discarded in the water. Relatives identified three of the fallen soldiers: Heorhii Pavlov, Andrii Dubnytskyi and Ivan Zhytnyk. "I was the first to find my husband's body.

I wrote through Telegram groups that I was looking for my husband and described the tattoos on his body. The body came in a prisoner swap on 29 March 2024. I received a message from a woman who deals with such bodies and who founded a group to search for MIA and KIA defenders," says Liudmyla, the wife of Andrii Dubytskyi. 

After that, Liudmyla immediately wrote about it in a group chat with other relatives of the soldiers executed at Zenit.

All the bodies were brought to Kyiv. Heorhii Pavlov, who went by the alias Panda, was in the Russian video along with Dubytskyi. His mother, Inna, recognised him.

Kateryna, Ivan "Django" Zhytnyk's sister, also hoped to the end that her brother would be treated and brought back alive.  However, in the Russian video, she recognised her brother's body by his clothes and the water bottle he was holding when they were taken out of the mine by the Russians. The names of the other three soldiers remain unknown.

More than six months after the tragedy, the bodies of five out of six prisoners of war were brought back to Ukraine.

Background:

• The 110th Brigade, during its withdrawal from the occupied positions, reported that Russian forces had promised to evacuate the wounded Ukrainian soldiers who remained surrounded at the Zenit stronghold, but instead, they executed them.
• Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian law enforcement has documented the execution of 102 Ukrainian POWs on the battlefield by Russian forces.

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